Goodwin Procter Advises Padlock Therapeutics on Launch and $23M Series A Financing

Goodwin Procter attorneys recently advised new biotechnology company Padlock Therapeutics on its $23 million Series A financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to deepen the company’s understanding of protein-arginine deiminases (PADs) in autoimmune disease and advance its pipeline for PAD-directed therapeutics. Atlas Venture led the funding round, joined by Index Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development and MS Ventures, the biotech investment arm of Merck KGaA.

Padlock Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Mass., is a biotechnology company developing new medicines to treat destructive autoimmune diseases. The company leverages breakthrough science out of The Scripps Research Institute on the role of protein citrullination in disease to develop drugs targeting PAD enzymes. Padlock was co-founded in January 2014 by industry veteran Michael Gilman, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the company, and was incubated as part of the Atlas Venture seed program.

Atlas Venture is an early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses. Since its inception in 1980, Atlas partners have helped build over 350 companies in more than 16 different countries. Atlas Venture is currently investing from its ninth fund which closed in May 2013.